He was starting another pot of coffee to brew when Josh Kowalski squeezed into the small break room. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say two plus two equals you being the guy who found Hailey and Tori in the woods last weekend.”
“Heard about that, did you?”
“This is Whitford, so everybody’s heard about it. In the version I heard, though, you were very hairy, smelled bad and, depending on who you asked, were wearing a fresh bear skin like a coat.”
“That sounds like Hailey’s version. Her friend Tori seemed a little less...dramatic.”
Josh laughed. “I don’t know Tori as well as I do Hailey, but I think you’re probably right about that. And, based on the looks she’s been giving you, it’s probably a good thing you’re going to work in the area, but live somewhere else, with your own library.”
Not for long, Matt thought, but he didn’t say it. Apparently the people of Whitford didn’t know everything. As far as he knew, only Drew Miller and the home’s owners knew that he was moving to town.
He could almost picture the look of shock on Hailey’s face when he showed up to get his library card. Because, yes, he could read.
“A word of warning,” Josh said in a low voice. “The women in this town have been on a husband hunt for Hailey Genest for a while now, so brace yourself.”
“If you think I’m husband material for that woman, you don’t know her as well as you think.”
“I know you’ve both had your eyes on each other more than the work you’re supposed to be doing.”
Yeah, Matt was going to have to work on not doing that.
MATT FROM THE woods is IN MY LIBRARY. She sent the text to Tori, even though she was working the morning shift at the diner. Her friend could juggle plates and a cell phone like magic and, since the owner of the diner was at home juggling a newborn, there was nobody to yell at her. Except Carl, the cook, but he was more of a silent glare kind of guy.
OMG. 911?
That would be overreacting. He’s the game warden. And he’s hot.
Matt from the woods is a hot game warden? At library? Stalking you?
He’s doing the OHRV safety class. Coincidence!
It took a couple of minutes for Tori to reply, no doubt waylaid by customers. Send pic!
Hailey looked over and was thankful Matt had his back to her. Not only because that was a particularly nice view of him, but because he couldn’t see her looking. She didn’t see any way, even with her phone on silent as it always was at work, to get a picture of him without him knowing.
Then inspiration struck and she walked over to the group, taking pictures with her phone as she moved around. When Matt stopped talking and gave her a questioning look, she gave him a tight smile.
“I always take pictures of events to put on our bulletin board,” she explained. “Pretend I’m not here.”
He held the eye contact until the seconds stretched into just shy of awkward, and then he turned back to the kids and resumed talking.
By taking more than a dozen photos from all different angles, she was able to sneak a full-on shot of the game warden. Once she was back at her desk, she cropped it down a bit to focus on his upper body and face, then sent it to Tori.
Holy shit.
That’s pretty much what Hailey had thought, too. Right?
The answer was immediate. Get his number this time. Ask him out.
That’s not what Hailey had thought at all. Not going to happen. Patrons. Have to go.
Liar. Not open yet. Also, you’re chickenshit.
Hailey rolled her eyes and closed the message thread. She wasn’t asking Matt for his number. Or a date. If she had her way, she was never going to see him again after this class was over.
To be fair, the man hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe he’d taken a few cheap shots at her, but she was the one who’d gone on a hiking and canoe trip in makeup and new boots. Her sense of humor usually extended to laughing at herself when the situation warranted.
But she’d been waiting for what seemed like forever for that sizzle of sexual awareness. The guy who’d walked into her library this morning was one she wanted to flirt with. She wanted to make eye contact and see her desire reflected back at her. The first touch. First kiss.
For a few wonderful minutes, there was hope. There was a man right here in Whitford she might have gotten naked for. And where there was dinner and kisses and mutual nudity, there was a chance at more.
Then it was all snatched away. He might have shined himself up for work, but she’d seen him in his natural habitat and she didn’t want to get naked with that guy. She’d wanted to run from him. That, unfortunately, didn’t bode well for a chance at more.
Fair or not, that disappointment and inflamed sense of dissatisfaction had his name all over it.
With a sigh, she pulled out a small stack of papers and made herself get to work. Shortly after becoming the police chief, Drew had reached out to the local businesses for help in a program he wanted to start in Whitford. It was sort of a pre-community service program for youth who committed very minor offenses and just needed a little nudge back on track. Hailey had jumped all over that.
Her most recent “volunteer” had been assigned a task she’d been putting off for far too long. He’d matched books on the shelves to books in the system and listed any books they were missing in middle grade and young adult series. Now Hailey had to analyze the stats for each series and decide whether or not to replace the missing books for each.
It was tedious work, but it kept her mind busy. The hands on the clock moved, a few patrons came and went, and she managed to mostly ignore the class going on at the other end of the floor. It wasn’t easy with nine kids, eight parents and the instructors, but she managed to burn through a good chunk of the morning’s to-do list.
At eleven, there was a rush past her desk and she laughed at the kids trying to run outside without technically running.
Josh stopped. “We’re taking an hour for lunch. Do you want anything while I’m out?”
“I brought a lunch, but thanks.”
They all filed out, except for Matt Barnett. He took the time to sweep banana bread crumbs from the tables into a trash can and then tossed the empty coffee cups in after. Hailey tried not to allow any mushy feelings in as he dampened a paper towel and actually washed the table, too. She was a sucker for men who picked up after themselves.
She was surprised, though, when he stopped at the circulation desk on his way out. He leaned against the tall counter, close enough so she could smell that aftershave or cologne or whatever it was again.
“You get a lunch break?”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was it a prelude to asking her to join him, or just a point of information? “I bring my lunches and eat at my desk. One of the joys of being a one-woman show.”
“So you never get a break?”
“I’m not exactly a gerbil in a wheel here. And every once in a while I put a be right back sign on the door and meet my friends for lunch.”
“I guess that’s both the good and the bad of a small town.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
The conversation seemed a little surreal to Hailey. Because he was in a library, he did what everybody always did and talked in a low voice. His low voice was husky, and it was all too easy to imagine him leaning close and whispering sexy things.
“How are those blisters?”
So much for sexy. “They’re fine, thanks. And thank you again for bringing us back to our car.”
“No problem.”
“I guess it’s kind of your job, isn’t it?”
He smiled, and her fingers tightened around her pen. No matter how much she tried to imagine him with unkempt hair and beard, his smile was devastating. “I’m usually a decent guy even if I’m not getting paid for it.”
“Hey, at least I was able to be fodder for your safety class.” It came out a little less self-deprecating humor and more snippy than she’d intended.
“I shouldn’t have poked fun at you. I’m sorry. But it was all in fun.” A horn sounded outside and Matt stood up straight. “I’m grabbing lunch with Dave, so I’ve got to run. You want me to grab you anything?”
“No, thanks.”
Once she heard the door close, Hailey sighed and dropped her head to her desk with a thump that sounded very loud in the suddenly very quiet library. She had no idea what she’d done in a past life to deserve being tormented by a scruffy mountain man disguised as a smoking hot guy in a uniform, but she wanted this day to be over.
She ate her lunch at her desk, skimming review sites for the upcoming must-have books, and she was busy helping a patron with a genealogy site when the safety class group poured back in. Glancing up, she saw Matt looking for her and she dropped her gaze before their eyes met.
Time crawled by, and she kept herself as busy as possible. The class moved outside when Sam Jensen started the first aid portion of the class because they had a few patrons on the computer and reading periodicals. According to Matt, kids tended to get a little loud when they were pretend splinting each other’s body parts. Other than that, she had to do her best to ignore the group and the low timbre of Matt’s voice.
Once the usual closing time had come and gone, things got really slow. A few people saw cars in the lot and stopped in, but most of Whitford assumed the library was closed as usual. Then the door opened and Tori walked in.